I grant that from fome moffy, idol oak, As Bards began, fo Monks rung on the chimes. With all their beams on our bleft ifland fhine, <* Have we forgot how Raphael's numerous profe • Led our exalted fouls through heavenly camps, And mark'd the ground where proud apoftate thrones Defy'd Jehovah! Here, 'twixt hoft and hoft, < (A narrow, but a dreadful interval) • Portentous fight! before the cloudy van • Satan with vaft and haughty ftrides advanc'd, • Came towering arm'd in adamant and gold. There bellowing engines, with their fiery tubes, • Difpers'd æthereal forms, and down they fell By thousands, angels on arch-angels roll'd; • Recover'd, to the hills they ran, they flew, Which (with their ponderous load, rocks, waters, • woods) • From their firm feats torn by the shaggy tops • They bore like shields before them through the air, • Till more incens'd they hurld them at their foes. All was confufion, heaven's foundations fhook, Threatning no lefs than univerfal wreck, For Michael's arm main promontories flung, An effay on blank verse, out of Paradise Loft, B. VI. • And And over-preft whole legions weak with fin: Yet they blafphem'd and struggled as they lay, • Till the great enfign of Meffiah blaz'd, ‹ And (arm'd with vengeance) God's victorious Son (Effulgence of paternal deity) Grafping ten thousand thunders in his hand, • Drove th' old original rebels headlong down, Which none know better, and none come fo near. A PARAPHRASE CXLVIII th Azure vaults! O crystal sky! The world's tranfparent canopy, Break your long filence, and let mortals know Wing'd squadrons of the god of war, Let echoing anthems make his praises known Grea Great eye of all, whofe glorious ray Ye moon and planets, who dispense, By God's command, your influence; Refign to him, as your Creator due, That veneration which men pay to you, Faireft, as well as first, of things, Praise him ye loud harmonious spheres, Who did all forms from the rude chaos draw, Vaft ever-moving orbs, exalt his name, Who gave its being to your glorious frame. Ye dragons, whose contagious breath Change your fierce hiffing into joyful fong, your forked tongue. Praise him, ye monsters of the deep, That in the seas vaft bofoms fleep; At whofe command the foaming billows roar, Ye mifts and vapours, hail and fnow, And you who through the concave blow, Swift executors of his holy word, Whirlwinds and tempefts, praife th' Almighty Lord. Mountains, who to your Maker's view Seem lefs than mole-hills do to you, Remember how, when firft Jehovah spoke, All heaven was fire, and Sinai hid in smoke. Praise him, fweet offspring of the ground, With heavenly nectar yearly crown'd; And ye tall cedars, celebrate his praife, That in his temple facred altars raife. Idle muficians of the fpring, Whofe only care's to love and fing, Fly through the world, and let your trembling throat Praise your Creator with the sweetest note. Praife him each favage furious beaft, And you tame flaves of the laborious plow, Your Majestic Majeftic monarchs, mortal gods, May all attempts against your crowns be vain! Let the wide world his praifes fing, And from the Danube's frofty banks, to those You that difpofe of all our lives, Praife him from whom your power derives ; Be true and just like him, and fear his word, As much as malefactors do your fword. Praife him, old monuments of time; Jehovah's name fhall only last, When heaven, and earth, and all is paft: Nothing, great God, is to be found in thee, But unconceivable eternity. Exalt, O Jacob's facred race, The God of gods, the God of grace; Who will above the ftars your empire raife, And with his glory recompenfe your praise. A PRO |